Saturday, December 15, 2007

India: A survey-based profile

In previous posts, I've drawn characterizations of a number of large countries (United States, China, and Mexico) based on World Values Surveys. Now, I would like to report what I found for India. In 1990, 2,500 Indians were sampled and asked more than 200 questions about their values and beliefs over a broad range of areas: work, family, religion, government, and nation. I list below those questions where Indian responses were in the top three or bottom three among all the countries surveyed (Ten to 50 countries were surveyed, depending on the question. Keep in mind that the sample was tilted toward more-developed countries). This strategy allows us to see in which ways a country is distinctive. There are many questions where Indians were in the middle, which indicates that the country is not much different than a typical country in the sample on many issues:

Top 3work is very important in my lifeI enjoy my work: it is the most important thing in my lifemost important aspect of a job is the chance of promotionthere are people in the country who are poor because they are lazy

no previous marriagesspouse has same attitudes toward religion; social attitudesfaithfulness is very important for a successful marriagesame background is very important for a successful marriagesharing household responsibities is very important for a successful marriagea preschool child will suffer if mom workschildren should be encourage to learn good manners; obedienceapproves of abortion if mom is singleapproves of women's movement

belongs to a religious denominationbrought up religiously at homebelieves in reincarnation

has a lot of confidence in church; armed forces; civil service; political systemproud of country's scientific achievementsproud to be Indian

does not want criminals for neighborsdoes not want left-wingers for neighborsdoes not want drinkers for neighborsdoes not want unstable people for neighborsdoes not want foreigners for neighborsdoes not want people with AIDS for neighborsdoes not want drug addicts for neighborsdoes not want homosexuals for neighborsdoes not want Jews for neighbors

trust my familytrust my nationalitytrust my ethnic group

cheating on taxes; married people cheating; homosexuality; prostitution; divorce; suicide are never justified

we have to accept environmental problems to combat unemployment

Bottom 3

during the past few weeks, I felt pleased about something I accomplishedsuccess is due to luck and connections, not hard workwork should become less important in our livesself-development should become more important

parents talked about sexagrees with the idea of sexually freedommarriage is outdatedapproves of single motherhoodbeing a housewife is just as fulfilling as a paid jobthere should be more emphasis on family life

it is proper for churches to speak out on abortion; disarmament; Third World problems; extramarital affairs; unemployment; racial discrimination; euthanasia; and ecology

believes in resurrection

if an unjust law were passed, I could do nothing about it

Summary: Based on the list, India can be characterized as: work-oriented; socially conservative but in favor of reforms for women; moralistic; religious; against politically active religion; not tolerant; trusting of those in power and other Indians; ethnically and nationally proud; and politically self-efficacious.

I do not believe it is really possible to do a representative poll of India.

Is there really a way to poll untouchables living in shacks on the outskirts of rural villages?

It sounds to me like this is a poll of India's uppper and middle classes, which is interesting, but not comparable to polls of nations that don't have dirt poor masses making up the vast majority of their population.

Profile

"I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be." ~ Lord Kelvin